A wiper blade material that has a low coefficient of friction is beneficial, for example, so that the size and power of the motor that drives the wiper can be reduced. Additives or fillers have been used to produce materials having a coefficient of friction that is reduced as compared to the coefficient of friction of the material without the fillers.
One problem associated with currently used filler is that, to reduce the coefficient of friction of the material to where the material is useful for use as a windshield wiper, a relatively large amount of filler is used. Because the filler in the bulk of the rubber increases the stiffness of the rubber, the durability and flexibility of the wiper blade is reduced.
Another problem associated with currently used filler is that the coefficient of friction is not maximally reduced by the filler since the filler is not well dispersed in the rubber polymer. For example, fillers that are mechanically blended into a rubber polymer are not well dispersed due to the high viscosity of the rubber polymer.
Still another problem with currently used filler is that the filler does not favorably interact with the rubber polymer matrix. As such, the mechanical properties of the rubber polymer are compromised or the rubber polymer composite has undesirable stiffness.